by Diana Nixon
Only now, I realized that for someone who had just been ‘kidnapped’ she looked extremely calm and, well, normal.
“Amanda, could you bring me some water, please?” Tara said. I bet she did that to get a chance to talk to me.
“So, how do I look?” I asked, coming out from behind the divider.
“Perfect.” She smiled. “How do you feel?”
“Crappy. But I guess I will have enough time to think about it later. Right now, we need to focus on your wedding ceremony.”
“He knows, doesn’t he?”
There was no reason to hide things from her. I was sure she could foresee everything that was about to happen next.
“Yes,” I said, knowing that she was talking about Evan. “Did you see him? How does he feel?”
“We didn’t have a chance to talk, but I noticed that he was a little tense. Do you think he will try to do something reckless?”
“I truly hope he won’t. Because if he does, I will have to remind him what a proper ass-kicking is.”
Tara nodded nervously. “Okay, let’s hope for the best.”
I pulled my hair into a high bun and pinned a few white roses around it. Not that I cared about my appearance today, but I still wanted the bride and the groom to have the absolute best wedding pictures they could get. I couldn’t control anything else that was happening today, but I could control my appearance and at least help Tara make some wonderful memories about her wedding day.
“Can I ask you something?” I said, turning back to her.
“Sure,” she said, putting on the elbow-length, white gloves.
“Did you see anything about the Lords’ plans to destroy Dever?”
Tara sighed. “I did. The day you left for Ashburn, I had a vision about Elizabeth taking them through Dever’s border. I didn’t tell you anything about it, because I didn’t want to worry you. I hoped she would tell you everything.”
“Did you see anything about the outcome of whatever is about to happen today?”
“Surprisingly, not. I tried to focus on you, Evan, Amanda, everyone. But I didn’t see anything about what will happen after the wedding.”
“Too bad. I hoped you would say something reassuring.”
She laughed quietly. “You don’t need my words to be strong, Eileen. You know what to do with your powers.”
Chapter 23
Eileen
“Did Will do something to Amanda?” I asked, taking my bouquet of flowers. It was a combination of white and violet irises, symbolizing hope.
“He had to use his power to make her and Christian forget about being kidnapped.”
“Good. At least, we won’t have to deal with their anger. Ready?” I looked at Tara and she nodded, smiling slightly. “Now, let’s go see your soon-to-be-husband fiancé.”
When we went out of the dressing room Patrick was already there, waiting for Tara. He smiled, offering her his hand. He looked at me briefly, but didn’t say anything.
“It’s time,” Amanda said, standing behind me. The music started playing. Tara and I headed for the altar, trying to seem calm and smile at the guests.
Christian and Evan were standing next to the groom, both looked a little worried. But unlike Christian, Evan didn’t even look at us. He was staring at nothing in particular, which only made the worry inside me grow.
“What is he thinking about?” I asked Amanda in a whisper.
“I have no idea. He’s blocking me.”
I turned to look at him again, but was only met with Martin’s smiling face. I bet he felt like the happiest man in the world. Too bad, he wasn’t one of us. I still couldn’t imagine his life with Tara. Unfortunately, there were too many marriages just like theirs that fell apart every single day.
After Patrick brought the bride to the altar, he raised her veil and kissed her on the forehead, giving her his blessing. Then he took a few steps back and took his seat next to his wife, Amelia. Then the ceremony officially began.
The bride and the groom said their vows, but I didn’t hear a single word of them. All I could think about was Evan. He still looked a little lost. I wonder if he was thinking about the book that Elizabeth told him to stay away from. Then I saw Christian frown slightly. I raised my eyebrows in a silent question, but he only shook his head as if there was nothing to worry about.
“Something’s happening,” Amanda whispered behind me.
“What?”
“Evan feels something.”
“What does he feel?”
“Someone is here.”
“Who? Where?”
It was not easy to talk, standing next to the bride and the groom who were about to be called husband and a wife. But as soon as the priest said the sacred words, and everyone started to applaud, I looked around and saw a few people standing near the church’s exit.
“Oh, my God… The Lords are here.”
“What?”
“Over there!” I said, pointing to the exit, but to my surprise, no one was there now.
“Are you sure you saw the Lords?” Amanda asked.
“I don’t know.” I looked at Evan, and he looked pale, as if he had just seen them too. The colors of his aura started to spill through the wall of protection that he could barely control anymore.
Christian turned to Evan and touched his shoulder, whispering something into his ear. Then the two of them started to turn towards the door leading to the back of the church, but then something unexpected happened.
“No!” Tara screamed, looking around frantically.
“What is it?” I asked, unsure of what made her scream.
But before she could give me a response, I saw my father sending a bright-red wave of a magical spell at someone standing behind the priest. And then all hell broke loose…
People were screaming. Humans couldn’t understand what was going on, but all those from Dever knew that the Lords were there. I panicked.
“Evan! Get out of here!”
I took Amanda’s hand in mine and pulled her to one of the benches to hide her behind it. She was not ready for the fight. “Stay. Here.” I said.
Then I stood up and saw nothing but the multicolored rainstorm of spells, flying around the church. I couldn’t see who my father and Patrick were attacking. Lords didn’t possess magic.
“They brought magicians with them!” Christian said, sending a wave of fire at one of them.
“Where’s Evan?” I shouted, turning the spell that was sent towards me into a bunch of falling leaves.
“Eileen!” Amanda called. “He’s on his way back to Dever!”
“What?” I didn’t immediately realize what she was talking about.
“He went after the book!”
“Oh, no!”
“Father!” Christian called. He ran up to Patrick and told him to go to Dever and stop Evan from finding the book.
The brightness of a new spell burned my eyes. I flinched, tripping over the leg of one of the benches and landed right onto my back, groaning in pain.
“Eileen!” Tara was running towards me, but she didn’t make it…
A second before she was about to help me up to my feet, a spell hit her in the back. She gasped and her eyes widened in shock. And so did mine…
“Tara? Oh, no! Tara! Hold on, baby. I’ll take you out of here.”
“Marion!” I called. “Tara’s hurt!”
“Eileen-”
“It’s gonna be okay, Sweetie,” I said to Tara, helping her to lie down in between the two benches. A few fiery balls flew over our heads, but they were immediately turned into the rain.
“What happened?” Marion said, running up to us.
“Eileen,” Tara said again, her eyes shifting between Marion and me.
“Shh, don’t talk. We will help you, just lay down, okay?”
I pulled my hand out from under her back and saw bright-red spots of blood on my skin.
“She’s bleeding!”
“I know,” Marion said, castin
g different spells.
“Will she survive?” I could feel tears running down my cheeks. There were so many different thoughts running through my head, I couldn’t make myself concentrate on any one of them in particular.
“I don’t know,” Marion said, wrapping a light-blue, magical circle around Tara’s wrist.
I rose to my feet, looking frantically for whoever had done this to my friend. There were still a few magicians fighting with my father and the Keepers from Dever. I waved my hand and sent a spell into the nearest one. The guy was on his knees almost as quickly as I had sent the spell. He gasped and fell down.
After I was done with him, nothing else mattered. I was blind with fury, smashing down everything that got in my way.
Someone caught me by the hand. I was just about to kill whoever it was, when I saw Elizabeth’s face. “They are all gone!” She said through the screaming and chaos around us.
“What do you mean?”
“The Lords fooled us! They brought magicians with them to distract us. I bet they are on their way back to Dever where Evan is now.”
“Oh, no! What do we do now?”
“Take Amanda and Christian and create an illusion of the field. I’ll take care about the rest and see you three there.”
I nodded, breathing heavily and waved for Christian to come with me. He grabbed Amanda by the hand, locking the two of them in a fiery ball to protect themselves from the magic that was flying around. Then they ran up to me and the three of us disappeared into the darkness of my illusion. The last thing I saw was Tara’s motionless body, lying on the floor, with Marion wrapping it up in a shining, white blanket symbolizing the end of her life…
Never in my life had I felt so helpless. The moment we found ourselves standing in the middle of the rose field, I felt like all my powers were gone. I dropped to my knees, crying. I couldn’t believe that Tara was gone. I refused to believe it…
“Not here, Eileen,” Christian said, helping me back to my feet.
“Look!” Amanda said, pointing to something I didn’t see. “They are all here,” she said, horrified.
I turned my head in the direction she was pointing at and saw seven Lords, standing in a line, with the copies of the Perriart collection pieces in their hands. Will was with them too.
I took a few steps closer and bumped into an invisible wall.
“What the hell?”
“Elizabeth must be blocking us,” Christian said. I looked at him, surprised. “I saw her in the church,” he explained.
“Is she here?” Amanda asked, looking around.
“I am,” her voice behind me said. A moment later, we all saw Evan’s mother, coming over to us.
“Where’s Evan?” I asked. “Why are you blocking us?”
“We need to wait for Evan to join us here,” she said calmly. I never stopped admiring the woman’s composure.
“Where’s Maribel?”
“She’s not here. But you have her amulet, you will feel her powers when the right time comes.”
“What the hell do you mean by the right time?” Amanda shouted. “Do you even realize that your son might very well become a monster?”
“Don’t,” I said, holding her back with one hand. “She knows what she’s talking about.”
Amanda looked at me incredulous. “How do you know that? It’s all her fault that the Lords found their way to Dever!”
“Look!” Christian said, making us all turn to the Lords again. Now they were joined by their Master.
The seven of them bowed, welcoming him.
I didn’t recognize Evan. He looked so different now, all serious and severe. He was holding a grimoire and the Cup of Power in his hands, and I bet he already knew what to do with both.
I turned to Elizabeth, saying, “Did you break into the house where the Cup was hidden?”
“Yes. But I wasn’t going to steal it, I needed you to take it back to Dever. Evan can kill the Lords of Mind without the main part of the Perriart collection, because it’s the only piece that still has the blood of its creator in it.”
Evan opened the book and started reading something in a language that I couldn’t understand.
“What is he saying?” Amanda asked. Neither she nor I could feel him. For the first time ever, I felt like I was unable to break through the walls of his protection. For the first time ever, I felt how strong they were. Elizabeth was right about Evan’s powers. They were beyond understanding now.
I think I stopped breathing, watching Evan and the Lords. They were listening to him carefully, afraid to make a sound. When he stopped reading, I saw a thin blue line that connected him to the Lord’s hands.
“What is he doing?” I asked, horrified. “Is he binding himself to them?”
“Yes,” Elizabeth said.
“What for?”
“They are his slaves now.”
“Is he going to kill them?”
She didn’t reply.
“Elizabeth?”
“I don’t know what he’s going to do.”
“What?” Amanda stared at her in shock. “What do you mean you don’t know?”
“After the bond is formed, we need to make Evan break it. Only after he breaks it, will he be able to think straight again. And then, we can try to take him away from the darkness, but not even a second before that happens.”
“How long should we wait?” I asked.
“A few moments. Close your eyes and touch Maribel’s medallion, Eileen. Now!”
I did what she said, and I don’t think I had ever felt so strange before. It was like swimming in an ocean of someone else’s emotions and thoughts, trying to concentrate only on those I needed. Even without opening my eyes, I knew that the wall shielding me from Evan and the Lords was gone now.
“Eileen?” Amanda called quietly.
My eyes flew open and I gasped, seeing Evan’s face so close to mine.
We were standing, watching each other in silence. Neither of us spoke. But the most surprising thing about all of this was his eyes — they were pure silver, like Marion’s or even brighter.
He looked like he didn’t recognize me. And I swear that being the Mistress was the worst of my experiences. I could clearly feel every single one of the Lords that were standing behind me. I knew everything about everyone of them. Every thought, every feeling, everything that their minds consisted of, was in my head now.
“Eileen?” Amanda called again. She was standing behind Evan, with Christian by her side. Elizabeth was gone.
I blinked and took Evan’s hands in mine.
“What are you doing?” He asked, looking at our joined hands.
“Break the bond,” I said, looking into his eyes. Somehow, I knew he couldn’t affect me or my mind. Did Elizabeth know that Maribel’s mind was out of the Lords’ reach?
“Stop it,” Evan said firmly, trying to pull his hand out of mine.
“Break the bond,” I said again, tightening my grip on his hands.
“No.”
“I said, break the bond,” I repeated slowly, our gazes still locked.
Evan’s eyes darkened, and for a moment, I thought I was losing him. Then he blinked and they became silver again.
“Amanda, Christian, step back,” I said. Now I knew exactly what should be done. Our closeness to Evan was not accidental.
The moment they complied with me, Evan frowned, as if he couldn’t understand what was going on. For a split second, his eyes became bright-blue again, but it was more than enough to encourage me to keep going.
“Keep stepping back,” I said to Amanda and Christian. I, myself, kept holding Evan’s hands in mine, still looking into his eyes.
“Remember what I said the day we talked in your room?” I said to Evan. “Remember my words about your guardian angel?” His bright-blue eyes stared at me again. “Remember how good it felt to be each other’s light?” Evan shook his head, as if fighting with some visions in his head. “Remember how much you love your friend
s? How much you love the girl behind you?”
“Master, we are running out of time,” the voice behind me said. But I ignored it. I knew that the Lords would never do anything without Evan’s permission.
“They are here to destroy the world we live in. They killed Tara.”
Maybe it was too risky to tell Evan about her now, but I didn’t have much time. I needed to make him listen to me.
“They deserve to die too for many reasons, but especially for what they did to Tara,” I said, trying really hard to not think about Will, standing behind me. I couldn’t even imagine watching him die, but I didn’t have a choice. Again, I remembered Tara’s words about the sacrifice, and even more pain filled my heart.
“Just break the damn bond, Evan!” I put as much compulsion as I could into that one sentence. And apparently, it worked, because I saw Evan breathing heavily, as if he was coming back to his senses.
“Now, I’ll take a step back and you will destroy them all. Then, we will get back to reality,” I said, feeling my voice tremble. With every passing second, the realization of what had happened and what was about to happen next was more difficult to stand.
After Evan nodded, I let go of his hands and stepped back, taking the biggest part of his darkness with me. The next second, I was swept up by a hurricane, with wind, fire, water and earth, all mixed in one.
I didn’t see anything, I could only feel the full range of Evan’s feelings again, and I could swear it was even worse than whatever we felt a few weeks ago, while waiting for our awakening.
He was devastated, broken, angry…
It all happened so fast, I didn’t even notice the moment I returned to our real lives, lying on the ground, with the rain falling heavily from the sky. I opened my eyes and realized that I was back in Dever. To my surprise, I was alone; the dark water of the Black Lake was the only company I had. I rose to my feet and ran.
I didn’t know where I was running, but when I stopped, I was standing in the middle of The Great Hall, with Amanda, Christian and Elizabeth leaning over Evan’s motionless body. Wordlessly, I came closer to him and kneeled, touching his forehead with one hand. “Please don’t tell me I’m going to die with you again,” I said.
Evan’s eyelids flew open, he gasped and sat up, breathing heavily. “What the fuck was that?”